2 Answers
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Yes, using vsphere client you can choose File->Export->Export OVF Template fill in the form and export the files to a local filesystem. This exported appliance should then load into your other virtualisation tools without any really issues. I've done this with CentOS6 (exported) and loaded it into VirtualBox.

Thanks. I also found you can use the ESXI disk browser and just copy(download) the raw vmware files. You can then point parallels or vmware server to these and migrate the VM
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carpiiJan 4 '12 at 16:03

You can also use VMWare converter for this purpose. We, however, don't use VMWare converter, we take a mondo backup of the virtual machine and restore it locally, and then use VMWare Workstation or Player to work on this virtual machine. Exporting to OVF template also is one of the solutions as already stated.